Specialty Gardening: We are winning awards!!, 1 by Janit

Janit wrote:
That pool was one of my first experiments in figuring out how to get the pond to last over time and in the weather.

I found the kidney shape in a plastic frozen food container, and cut it out of the tray. Then coated with outdoor grout, then sealed with marine paint. (You can get them to mix the marine paint in any color - I went for the Caribbean blue 'cause it looks sooo nice as a pool color!) The marine paint is the same as they use for the boats out here in Seattle, so I knew it would be completely waterproof.

This, of course, took way too much time and fiddling about! And the grout wouldn't stay stuck to the plastic.

I'm now painting terracotta ponds for my store, using the same marine paint for a "pool" - and painting into it with splatterings dark blues, dark and light greens to simulate the "pond" look. These ponds aren't deep enough to attract any mosquitoes, but can be filled with a little water so you can float a flower or a Lily-pad (a leaf) in it to push the cuteness over the top.

The picture below shows the new pools - and when painted into, become ponds: